In a network, collections of nodes, links and any intermediate nodes are connected via links of the network so as to enable telecommunication (also referred to as communication) between them. This communication between nodes in a network is commonly referred to as network traffic or traffic. The links connecting the nodes together can be wireless or wired, and the nodes use circuit switching, message switching, and/or packet switching to pass data and/or signals through the correct links and nodes to reach the correct destination node. Each node in a network usually has a unique address so messages can be routed to the correct recipient node(s).
Links between the nodes in a network may define a (communication) channel between the nodes. A channel may be also referred to as a band and can be described by its bandwidth, or capacity for traffic. The nodes may be any kind of (technical/electronic) devices and/or (computer) systems.
Examples of networks are telecommunication networks such as computer networks, the Internet, the telephone network, and the global Telex network.
Other examples of networks are machine to machine (M2M) networks. M2M refers to technologies that allow wireless, wired, and hybrid (i.e. both wired and wireless) systems to communicate with each other. M2M communication can be a one-to-one connection (such as a remote network of machines relaying information back to a central hub for processing which would be rerouted into a computer system such as a PC) or a system of networks that transmits data to personal appliances. M2M networks have in the past been used for automation and instrumentation but are nowadays more commonly used in telematics applications. Indeed, M2M has numerous applications. For example, wireless M2M networks that are all interconnected can serve to improve production and efficiency in various areas such as machinery that works on building cars and/or on letting the developers of products know when those products need to be taken in for maintenance and/or for other reasons, such as reporting performance indications. Another exemplary application is to use wireless M2M technology to monitor systems such as utility meters. A further exemplary application is to use wireless M2M networks to update billboards. And, as noted above, telematics and in-vehicle entertainment is also an area of focus for M2M developers.
Traffic management systems are used to control and/or manage traffic in networks, particularly when available network capacity is limited, so that performance of the network can be optimized. Traffic management system can be thus used, for instance, to minimize the impact of peak usage in terms of failed connections between nodes in a network and/or across different networks and/or the quality of service of a network. Quality of service refers to several related aspects of (telephony and/or computer) networks that prioritize the transport of traffic with specific requirements, such as voice traffic. Network capacity relates to the maximum capacity of one or more channels of the network to transmit data from one node in the network to another node in the network. Traffic management systems can be used to optimize the network capacity of a network for performance tuning particularity with regard to bandwidth. Network capacity can be based on the channel capacity of each of the channels in the network and the channel capacity may define the tightest upper bound on the rate of data that can be reliably transmitted over a channel.
Capacity management as performed by a traffic management system is a process used to manage network capacity to meet current and future requirements in an effective manner. Since the usage of nodes and/or channels in the network change even over short periods of time and, over longer periods, node functionality evolves as the amount of processing power, memory, bandwidth need, etc. changes. If there are spikes in, for example, bandwidth need at a particular time, there must be processes in place to analyze what is happening at that time and makes changes to the traffic distribution to maximize available network capacity.
In traffic management systems that are used to control traffic on networks where available network capacity is limited, control decisions are made in real-time based on data about network traffic that is gathered in real-time. Such traffic management systems require a model of the network capacity also referred to as a capacity model, a model of the network congestion scenarios (network congestion can occur when a channel an/or a node of the network is carrying so much data that its quality of service deteriorates), the ability to control network access as performed by a traffic controller, and the ability to measure current network utilization in real-time. A capacity model can define capacity of a network and can specify a maximum number of radio frequencies in the network, a maximum number of active circuits in the network, a maximum number of concurrent sessions in the network, and/or a maximum allowed bandwidth of the network.
As a consequence of needing to be able to gather network information in real-time, currently available traffic management systems are complex. This is due to the need to retrieve real time data from a large number of channels and/or devices of the network and to use such real-time data to calculate the currently (i.e. at a given point in time) available network capacity. Such calculations require constantly probing the network and real time data elaboration. In other words, current traffic management systems are required to retrieve real time data from a large number of network channels and/or nodes to determine a current network capacity. Consequently, currently available traffic management systems can be inefficient (regarding processing time and/or memory, computing resources), and expensive.
Hence, there is a need to provide systems and methods for addressing the above problems to provide traffic management for networks with enhanced performance (regarding processing time/memory, computing resources, bandwidth use) which only require access to real time data according in specific conditions only (this can be also referred to as a “just-in-time” analysis) to reduce the amount of real-time data and real-time analysis required so as to be less complex and also cheaper compared to currently available traffic management systems and methods.